About 25 years ago, before I began reviewing audio gear, I was a hardcore audiophile always searching for the latest, greatest thing. Then someone I knew well, who owned a hi-fi store, called me and begged me to give him my Forte Model 3 amplifier in exchange for a Forte Model 6 -- one of a new series of Forte amps that had yet to be released. A customer of his wanted a Forte Model 3 and was willing to pay a pretty penny for it, but my dealer friend no longer had any new units in stock, and wasn’t about to now that the replacement models had been announced. He struck a deal with the customer for my used Model 3, which he promised to replace with a new 6 as soon as that model was released. Miraculously, through all this, he’d still make a few bucks -- and I was convinced I’d be getting a good deal because I was getting a newer model. We should have all been happy, right?

If you’ve been paying any attention to high-end audio over the past several years, you’ve probably heard of Devialet. The French company launched its first product, the D-Premier integrated amplifier-DAC, at the 2010 High End show, in Munich, and has been receiving rave reviews from the audio press ever since -- including Doug Schneider’s review of the D-Premier for SoundStage! Hi-Fi, Hans Wetzel’s review of the 120 for SoundStage! Access, and Jeff Fritz’s review of the 400 dual monoblocks for SoundStage! Ultra. In fact, I couldn’t find a review from any credible source that was anything less than enthusiastic.

The history of Hegel Music Systems can be traced back to 1988, when the company’s founder, Bent Holter, conducted his thesis work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, focusing on what he saw as the transistor’s No.1 enemy: harmonic distortion. That work led to Hegel’s patented SoundEngine technology, which, they claim, “will cancel high frequency distortion components found in normal types of audio amplifiers. The Hegel SoundEngine technology is not using any kind of global negative feedback, it is using local and adaptive feed forward technology if there should ever be any need for cancellation of distortion within the audio amplifier stages.”

Whenever people ask about why the hi-fi industry is in trouble, they usually cite stuff like changes in listening habits, such as headphones or streaming. A more powerful case is put forward for other leisure alternatives for disposable income, especially gaming. If budding audiophiles 30 to 40 years ago bought their first systems as teenagers, then it doesn't take much to look at today's equivalent who'd rather have a slick phone and a PlayStation or Xbox.

Although I have lately written exclusively about Mobile Fidelity’s vinyl reissues, in the past I have covered their very good work on CD. Their CDs have been lovingly remastered and pressed on gold discs. The label’s Ultradisc UHR Hybrid SACDs present music in higher resolution than CDs. They begin with the GAIN 2 mastering system that is the basis for all their releases, including LPs. Their SACDs add the advantages of the higher sampling rate (2.8MHz) and frequency response (up to 100kHz) available through Direct Stream Digital in order to create discs that sound as close as possible to the original recording.

Until now, we haven’t included a turntable in our list of Recommended Reference Components, mainly because we hadn’t come across one that we felt established a performance baseline by which others could be judged. That changed in May 2014, when Oliver Amnuayphol reviewed the Rega Research RP8, which so impressed him that he purchased the review sample to use as his own reference turntable.

The RP8 comes equipped with Rega’s RB808 tonearm, for a total retail price of $2995 USD. When Oliver reviewed the RP8, Rega’s Apheta cartridge was available as a factory-fitted option, for a total retail price of $3995, representing a savings of $795 over buying turntable and cartridge separately. (The Apheta has since been replaced by the Apheta 2.) However, Oliver reviewed the RP8 and RB808 with the cartridge he knew best: the Lyra Delos.

The first turntable I ever bought was a Pro-Ject: the 1.2. Though a fairly simple machine, it was designed with performance in mind, as evinced by its heavy platter of cast aluminum, decoupled AC motor, and one-piece armtube. At only $399, the 1.2 offered decent value in 1995 $US.

In December, I wrote about how, as far as high-end hi-fi is concerned, the annual Consumer Electronics Show now plays second fiddle to the High End show, held each May in Munich. In fact, many industry folks I spoke with at CES 2015, held January 6-9, told me how important the High End event has become to their companies.

Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

While large speakers are still in vogue and represent some of the most expensive products in audio, they aren’t all that common. For many years, the trend has been toward smaller speakers that are meant to be less obtrusive in the room. In other words, there aren’t many manufacturers outfitting tower speakers with 15” woofers these days. Besides, it’s rare to enter someone’s home and see floorstanding or monitor speakers pulled out into the room. Assuming a home even has a stereo, it typically consists of small satellite speakers (often of the cheap home-theater-in-a-box variety) or in-wall designs. For many people, the idea of bulky MDF boxes commandeering large areas of the living room isn’t even considered. Many people don’t want to see their stereos at all.

I wish I could claim to have been hip to Blue Note Records from the start of my interest in jazz, but when I began collecting jazz LPs in earnest, in the mid-'70s, it was Fantasy Records that was reissuing its extensive catalog. At that time, Fantasy owned Riverside, Prestige, and Milestone Records, and it released classic jazz recordings in affordably priced, two-record sets it marketed as "two-fers." I picked up nearly all of Wes Montgomery's Riverside LPs, plus titles by Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, and other jazz greats. Another memorable Fantasy Records two-fer was The Real Lenny Bruce, a terrific overview of the comedian's work that featured extensive liner notes by San Francisco-based journalist Ralph J. Gleason, who remains one of my great heroes.